Bihar Elections: EBCs Emerge As Key Deciding Factor With 36% Population Share

Patna: Bihar`s Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), comprising 36.01 percent of the state`s population, are going to play a highly significant role in the coming assembly election as the pattern of voting among them is likely to undergo certain shifts this time.

EBCs have been traditionally voting in favour of NDA all these years but their votes are virtually up for grabs now when chief minister Nitish Kumar, who commanded support of huge chunk of EBCs, is apparently at the fag end of his political career.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD`s Tejashwi Yadav released a 10-point “Ati Pichhada Sankalp’ resolution in Patna on Wednesday, an initiative that fully explains how much importance INDIA bloc is attaching to EBCs in the election.

Who are EBCs?

ECBs are scattered across the state, and are the largest group in the caste-based survey conducted in the state. They are believed to include some 130-odd groups and sub-groups, prominent among them being Nai (barbers), fishermen (bearing surnames of Sahani, Nishad and Kevat), Lohar (blacksmith), Teli (those in the oil business) and Nonia (traditionally they made non or nun, meaning salt).

Nitish and EBCs

Nitish as chief minister has nursed the EBCs with reservations and sundry education and welfare benefits. Nitish government in a landmark decision had implemented 20 percent reservation for Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) in Bihar's panchayats and urban local bodies, inspiring confidence among them.

“Since Nitish is active in this coming election, and NDA is contesting under his leadership, EBCs would not wean away from JD (U) entirely but a section of EBCs would take a decision on their future political alliance post-Nitish,” remarked former professor of Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS) Pushpendra Kumar Singh.

The INDIA bloc has definitely taken a lead over NDA in their attempt to woo EBC voters by pledging to bring law to protect EBCs, apparently along the lines of similar laws already in place nationwide for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST), he added.

Singh said that it was Congress in the INDIA bloc which could woo and persuade some other social groups to vote in favour of the opposition alliance in the assembly polls as other constituents of the alliance were not able to expand their respective support base beyond their existing one. He said that Congress could also ‘neturalise’ the impact of Prashant Kishor`s Jan Suraaj Party in the election.